This material came from many
sources including the WASO Division of Ranger Activities, other WASO divisions,
regional offices, parks, and a few individuals. Much of it was generated
by WASO along with material from some individual parks, the Forest Service,
private concerns, contractors, and various periodicals. Much of this material
is secondary – published articles and handbooks. The U.S. Forest Service
material is included because it was USFS material that rangers in the field
used almost exclusively for many years for references on fire fighting,
fire lookouts, forestry, etc.

B. History

Ranger activities were first
carried out in Yellowstone National Park. Gamekeeper Harry Yount is credited
with being the first ranger, 1880-81. The enforcement problems at Yellowstone
were such that the Army took over and patrolled the park from 1886-1918
at he request of the Secretary of the Interior. The California parks were
also protected by the Army from their creation in 1890, but here forest
rangers were used to supplement the Army. These forest rangers became park
rangers in 1905, when the forest reserves were reorganized, and the forest
rangers could no longer patrol adjacent areas. The same reorganization
led to rangers at Mount Rainier and Wind Cave. The superintendent handled
protection duties at Crater Lake until appropriations increased enough
to appoint a park ranger. Platt National Park used patrolmen and the Bureau
of Indian Affairs helped at Mesa Verde. Forest rangers manned stations
at Glacier until the national park was authorized in 1910 at which time
park rangers took over. By the time Rocky Mountain National Park was established,
a ranger service had been organized and park rangers were authorized at
ROMO.

In 1915, Regulations Governing
Rangers in the National Parks was issued by General Superintendent
Mark Daniels. The Department set up a separate Park Ranger Service with
the aim of increasing uniformity among the parks. This goal was met by
Stephen T. Mather and the 1916 establishment of the National Park Service.
Two years later National Park rangers were able to take over all protection
duties and release the soldiers for World War I. The rangers not only patrolled
all natural National Parks including Yellowstone but also covered national
monuments and even historic areas. Mather tried to build up the new ranger
service and stressed educational qualifications along with the traditional
outdoor ones.

After regionalization in 1937,
each region and the Washington Office (WASO)had someone in charge of rangers
although the title of the position and the name of the office has varied
greatly over the years. In 1959, it was called Division of Ranger Activities.
In the early days, the ranger did it all: wildlife control, trail building,
telephone line repair, answering visitor questions, protecting ruins and
buildings, giving directions, building trails and fences, public relations,
maintaining and building museum collections, giving talks, some administration,
filling out reports, law enforcement, and forestry. As forest fire fighting,
maintenance, interpretation, and administrative divisions developed, the
scope of the ranger's job narrowed. Since the early 1970's there has been
increased emphasis on law enforcement; both seasonal and permanent rangers
must have 200 hours of police training.

Seasonal rangers, chiefly college
students and schoolteachers, have been prominent since the early 1900's.
National Park Service rangers are currently classified in the Civil Service
025 Park Management Series. Both law enforcement and interpretative rangers
are covered by this series. From 1968 to 1986 there was an 026 Park Technician
Series to handle lower graded, non-professional jobs. After much controversy,
the Office of Personnel Management in January 1986, restored the 025 rank
to all above OS-4. Since 1977, there has been a professional Association
of National Park Rangers to address grades and other concerns.

Summary

There are 6 1/2 boxes of material
under this category which has been divided into three series and two classification
numbers. Series I - Protection, and Series II - Safety have been given
the number Y50 while Series III - Firefighting is numbered Y14. It has
been furthered subdivided into two parts: (a) U.S.F.S. Fire Control (as
used by U.S.N.P.S.) and (b) U.S.N.P.S. Fire Management.

Notes

The last section of this inventory
is a listing of ranger manuals. Much of the material in the History section,
above, was taken from the unpublished book To Preserve and protect
by John Henneberger which is in the book portion of the collection. The
editions of "Oh, Ranger!" by Horace M. Albright and Frank J. Taylor,
give some of the "flavor" of rangering. They, along with The National
Park Service and later books by William C. Everhart, are also contained
in the book portion of the collection and should be of interest. Within
that portion, some of the travel and guidebooks mention the ranger and
his/her activities as do those listed in the NPS History Preliminary Inventory.

Published biographies of Directors,
especially Mather and Albright, along with those of Park Service personnel,
Lon Garrison in particular, also shed light on rangers and their activities.

A box of ranger activities photos
has been transferred to the NPS Historic Photo Collection Most of the portraits
in the collection are of rangers and/or former rangers, some in uniform.
These uniforms themselves make up a large portion of the museum collection
along with badges. As mentioned in the preliminary inventory for the paper
material regarding uniforms and insignia, catalog numbers HFCA 2-51, 118-203,
240-351, 346-351, 361-364, 377-386, 388-391, 450-452, and 568 should be
consulted. The aforementioned inventory should be of interest also.

The other preliminary Inventory
mentioned, that for NPS History, would likewise be of interest. Although
not yet inventoried, the Training Material P86 has much of interest regarding
rangers and ranger activities. Inventories covering former ranger activities
especially interpretation and museum could be consulted. Other activities
represented by papers in the collection but not yet inventoried would include
Wildlife - N16, Administration – A including Public Relations - A38, and
Maintenance - D22 and D30 (roads and trails). Personnel - P64, Employment
- P72, Women - P41 and the preliminary inventory for Conferences - A40
might also contain applicable information. Papers in the biography section
as well as the separate oral history collection would concern rangers,
former rangers, and ranger activities.

The periodicals, especially the
Courier and predecessors, contain much on ranger activities (and rangers).
The HFC Library receives the periodical Ranger put out by the Association
of National Park Rangers. Museum catalog numbers HFCA 594-600 were donated
by the ANPR and should be consulted along with those already mentioned.
Some of these items can be seen in the films, especially the Albright videos
(RG 25).

Treasury Department, U. S. Coast
Guard. Directions for Restoring the Apparently Drowned [for] Saving
Drowning by Swimming to Their Relief and for the Treatment of Frostbites
as Practiced in the U. S. Coast Guard, 1916